Methods and systems for impression inventory trading

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing an impression inventory trading platform are described. A specification of impression inventory for sale is received from a seller, the impression inventory having associated therewith a plurality of attributes. Each attribute is specified as either visible or hidden to a potential impression inventory buyer. The impression inventory specification and visible attributes associated therewith are provided to one or more potential impression inventory buyers via a user interface, and negotiation for purchase of the impression inventory is facilitated between the seller and one or more of the potential impression inventory buyers via the user interface.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/831,106, filed on Jun. 4, 2013, and entitled“Method and System for Impression Inventory Trading,” and U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/929,912, filed on Jan. 21, 2014,and entitled “Method and System for Impression Inventory Trading,” theentireties of which are incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to impression inventory salesand, more particularly, to systems and methods for providing anegotiation platform for the purchase and sale of online advertisingimpressions.

Real-time bidding (RTB) has made it easy for buyers to purchaseimpressions at scale across a large number of publishers, who benefitfrom monetizing unsold advertising inventory across a large number ofbuyers. Buyers have leveraged RTB to buy advertising inventory based onuser data instead of context, enabling them to get the most out of theirbudgets by focusing on users that are in target. This, combined with thereduction in face-to-face sales activity, has negatively impacted somelarge publishers and large strategic sellers by reducing the perceivedvalue of contextual and “premium” inventory. Impression inventory buyersand sellers are currently unable to easily connect and engage in directinventory trading.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes various implementations of animpression inventory trading system and accompanying methods that enableadvertising impression inventory buyers and sellers to locate eachother, discuss potential business relationships, and propose and acceptimpression inventory sales. The trading platform facilitates anegotiation phase between a buyer and a seller where terms aretransparent to both sides of the deal. Ultimately, the disclosed systemsand methods provide an increased level of visibility for users of theplatform into their access and eligibility to buy or sell with apotential partner.

In one aspect, a computer-implemented method includes the steps of:receiving, from a seller, a specification of impression inventory forsale, the impression inventory having associated therewith a pluralityof attributes; specifying, for each of the attributes, whether therespective attribute is visible to a potential impression inventorybuyer; providing the impression inventory specification and visibleattributes associated therewith to one or more potential impressioninventory buyers via a user interface; and facilitating negotiation, viathe user interface, between the seller and one or more of the potentialimpression inventory buyers for purchase of the impression inventory.

In one implementation, the facilitating negotiation comprises: receivinga proposal from a first one of the potential impression inventory buyersfor the seller to expose one or more hidden attributes associated withthe impression inventory to the first potential impression inventorybuyer; and providing the proposal to the seller. The proposal caninclude an offer to provide a benefit to the seller in exchange for theseller exposing the one or more hidden attributes. A particular benefitto the seller can include a price floor for certain impression inventoryor a minimum spend commitment.

In another implementation, a particular attribute includes a fulluniform resource locator, a partial uniform resource locator, a domain,an age, a gender, a content category, an auction price floor, ageography, a tag, a publisher, or a fold position.

In a further implementation, the facilitating negotiation includes:receiving from the seller proposed terms for the sale of the impressioninventory; providing, via the user interface, the proposed terms to afirst one of the potential impression inventory buyers; receiving fromthe first potential impression inventory buyer an acceptance orrejection of the proposed terms; and providing, via the user interface,the acceptance or rejection to the seller. The proposed terms caninclude a proposed rate for a sale of at least a subset of theimpression inventory. The proposed terms can include proposed targetingaccess to the impression inventory for the first potential impressioninventory buyer.

In yet another implementation, the facilitating negotiation includes:receiving from a first one of the potential impression inventory buyersproposed terms for the purchase of the impression inventory; providing,via the user interface, the proposed terms to the seller; receiving fromthe seller an acceptance or rejection of the proposed terms; andproviding, via the user interface, the acceptance or rejection to thefirst potential impression inventory buyer. The facilitating negotiationcan further include: receiving modifications to the proposed terms fromthe seller; and providing, via the user interface, the modifications tothe first potential impression inventory buyer.

In another aspect, a system includes one or more computers programmed toperform operations including: receiving, from a seller, a specificationof impression inventory for sale, the impression inventory havingassociated therewith a plurality of attributes; specifying, for each ofthe attributes, whether the respective attribute is visible to apotential impression inventory buyer; providing the impression inventoryspecification and visible attributes associated therewith to one or morepotential impression inventory buyers via a user interface; andfacilitating negotiation, via the user interface, between the seller andone or more of the potential impression inventory buyers for purchase ofthe impression inventory.

In one implementation, the facilitating negotiation comprises: receivinga proposal from a first one of the potential impression inventory buyersfor the seller to expose one or more hidden attributes associated withthe impression inventory to the first potential impression inventorybuyer; and providing the proposal to the seller. The proposal caninclude an offer to provide a benefit to the seller in exchange for theseller exposing the one or more hidden attributes. A particular benefitto the seller can include a price floor for certain impression inventoryor a minimum spend commitment.

In another implementation, a particular attribute includes a fulluniform resource locator, a partial uniform resource locator, a domain,an age, a gender, a content category, an auction price floor, ageography, a tag, a publisher, or a fold position.

In a further implementation, the facilitating negotiation includes:receiving from the seller proposed terms for the sale of the impressioninventory; providing, via the user interface, the proposed terms to afirst one of the potential impression inventory buyers; receiving fromthe first potential impression inventory buyer an acceptance orrejection of the proposed terms; and providing, via the user interface,the acceptance or rejection to the seller. The proposed terms caninclude a proposed rate for a sale of at least a subset of theimpression inventory. The proposed terms can include proposed targetingaccess to the impression inventory for the first potential impressioninventory buyer.

In yet another implementation, the facilitating negotiation includes:receiving from a first one of the potential impression inventory buyersproposed terms for the purchase of the impression inventory; providing,via the user interface, the proposed terms to the seller; receiving fromthe seller an acceptance or rejection of the proposed terms; andproviding, via the user interface, the acceptance or rejection to thefirst potential impression inventory buyer. The facilitating negotiationcan further include: receiving modifications to the proposed terms fromthe seller; and providing, via the user interface, the modifications tothe first potential impression inventory buyer.

The details of one or more implementations of the subject matterdescribed in the present specification are set forth in the accompanyingdrawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter will become apparent from thedescription, the drawings, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the sameparts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are notnecessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed uponillustrating the principles of the implementations. In the followingdescription, various implementations are described with reference to thefollowing drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an example user interface screen displaying partnerinformation for an impression inventory seller.

FIG. 2 is an example user interface screen displaying partnerinformation for an impression inventory buyer.

FIG. 3 is an example user interface screen for an impression inventoryseller to view and interact with standard transaction terms.

FIG. 4 is an example user interface screen for an impression inventoryseller to view and interact with custom transaction terms.

FIG. 5 is an example user interface screen for an impression inventoryseller to edit deal terms.

FIG. 6 is an example user interface screen for an impression inventorybuyer to edit deal terms.

FIG. 7 is an example user interface screen for viewing analytics.

FIG. 8 is an example user interface screen for an impression inventorybuyer to view pending deal terms.

FIG. 9 is an example user interface screen for an impression inventoryseller to view pending deal terms.

FIG. 10 is an example user interface screen for viewing and editingpartner information.

FIG. 11 is an example user interface screen for viewing partnerperformance, privileges, and deals.

FIG. 12 is an example user interface screen for managing partnerprivileges.

FIG. 13 is an example user interface screen for managing partner deals.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example method for facilitating negotiationbetween a seller and a buyer on an impression inventory tradingplatform.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of an example system implementation for animpression inventory trading platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Described herein in various implementations are systems and methods forextending an online advertising platform to enable impression inventorysellers and potential impression inventory buyers and to locate andbecome acquainted with one another as well as execute trades forimpression inventory through a user interface (e.g., a web-basedinterface). The trades can impact existing advertising campaigns and donot require buyers to target a new object in order to receive a benefit.Further, trades can impact existing campaigns by exposing domains andcategories, arbitrating auction mechanics, and determining rate cards.Sellers can grant trusted buyers privileged access to their inventorywhile maintaining full control over visibility and pricing, and buyerscan engage in direct deals with impression inventory sellers, tradingprice for desired visibility or privileges.

As used herein, “impression inventory” refers to advertisement servingopportunities, such as ad space on one or more websites. Impressioninventory can have associated with it various attributes that can beused by impression buyers to target advertisements and/or evaluate thevalue of the inventory. Attributes can include, but are not limited to,a full uniform resource locator, a partial uniform resource locator, adomain, an age, a gender, a content category, an auction price floor, ageography, a tag, a publisher, a fold position, and/or other demographicinformation. For example, an impression inventory seller can indicatethat certain impression inventory for sale is associated with webpageson the domain ebay.com and impression consumers in the U.S. A potentialimpression inventory buyer can use this information to determine what itis willing to pay for the inventory, as well as ultimately targetadvertisements to this particular group.

In one implementation, the present impression inventory trading systemincludes integration into one or more social networks. For example, thesystem can integrate with LinkedIn® or Facebook® to retrieve additionalinformation about people who use the trading system and show theirpictures and roles when they post messages. In another example, thesystem allows participants to tweet or post a message to other socialnetworks when they get a deal done; e.g., “I just negotiated a mediapartnership with XYZ Co. via The Impression Inventory Trading Platform!”The system can further include information about companies that can beused for media kits and more sophisticated profiles.

In some implementations, the trading system provides buyers and/orsellers with a user interface (UI) through which the buyers/sellersperform functions associated with the system and receive informationrelated to other buyers/seller and trading transactions. The UI canprovide information associated with buyers and sellers, such as anindication of whether a buyer or seller is a member of the onlineadvertising platform, contact information, a company logo/slogan,whether a buyer/seller is eligible to transact with, inventory listing,and the like. The UI can also provide relationship information betweenparties, such as an amount of funds exchanged, what items a seller haspermitted a buyer to see (e.g., full or partial URLs, age/gender,all/selected content categories, tags, pubs, floor pricing, etc.), andso on. Further, the UI can provide rate card information, such as howmuch certain inventory will cost a buyer.

The trading system can create an endowment effect by providing theability to link with other users and track these relationships. Forexample, the UI can include a “My Associates” screen and a “FindAssociates” screen to facilitate interactions among users. In anotherimplementation, the UI provides a way for buyers and sellers that do nothave a direct member to invite a partner using an “Invite Partner”button that sends a note inviting the partner onto the trading platform.

With existing techniques, RTB impression inventory sellers are unable tocreate value by differentiating their media products fromrun-of-exchange supply. There is value to sellers in directing buyerstoward paying higher prices for must-buy inventory. To accomplish this,sellers must create either real (first-party audience) or artificial(withholding transparency) differentiation from the run-of-exchangebuying that trading desks lean toward. Currently, sellers cannot easilymerchandise or charge differently for specialized media products(defined bundles of inventory) like property, channel, homepage,takeover, or rich media tags. Sellers want to expose their products tospecific buyers on and off the advertising platform. The sellers maydesire to price discriminate based on the buyer's targeting; e.g., if abuyer has visibility into the seller's “Autos” channel but bids on animpression via a run-of-network (RON) campaign, the buyer should pay theRON price rather than the “Autos” price. Likewise, impression inventorybuyers want to know how much they need to pay in order to win “Autos”impressions, and they need to see performance and delivery for thepurchase.

For example, assume that Company A has deals set up to buy Publisher Xinventory via deal identifier (Deal ID). There are different Deal IDsper brand, per demand-side platform, for each of the different sectionsof the site: RON, Homepage, and so on. Company A benefits from twothings: first, the deal gives Company A the ability to target and reporton specific placements, categories, etc. from the publisher. Second,Company A has pre-negotiated the “price” floor with Publisher X. CompanyA knows it must bid at least $10 to win the impression, and so it endsup bidding in the range of $15-$20.

Accordingly, impression inventory buyers would benefit from elaborateseller relationships for sales pitches or more impressions onhigh-performance inventory, whereas the seller would benefit from pricedifferentiation. Through the present system, a buyer is able to buy onvarious impression inventory attributes, such as specified categories,domains, geographies, fold position, and demographic data. In exchange,a seller can be provided with a benefit such as a given floor price forspecified products or a spend commitment by the buyer.

In one implementation, the basic unit of a trade is the rate card, bywhich a buyer and seller agree on a set of prices at which to dobusiness. The rate card can include “market price” for run-of-networkaudience or performance buying, potentially with a discount factor. Eachbusiness relationship can use a single rate card or multiple rate cards.Impression inventory trades can be configured at the buying member levelor at the buyer-brand level. Trades can be created by partners of theadvertising platform or by the agency clients of the partners. Tradescan be executed through bidders external or internal to the advertisingplatform. Trades can allow the trading parties to negotiate access toimpression inventory targeting attributes such as categories, domains,geographies, fold positions, and demographics. One example of a ratecard for an inventory trade is shown in Table 1, below, in which a price(e.g., fixed price, auction price, or auction discount) is set forimpression inventory associated with a specific row of targetingattributes.

TABLE 1 Fold Domain Geo Category Position Demographic Price — US Travel— $1.00 — UK Auto — $2.50 msn.com US — Above Women, 25-34 $3.00 the fold— — — — auction - 10% msn.com — — Below auction the fold

When executing an auction between an impression inventory buyer andseller with this trade in place, the buyer's campaign information can bematched with the rate card. The implementation can make the rate cardssimple to manage and understand and allow the editing of the rate termsvia the UI. In some implementations, rows of attributes are mutuallyexclusive, such that there are not two rates for the same set oftargeting attributes. In other implementations, the rows in the ratecard are ordered, so if an exact attribute match for inventory beingpurchase or bid on is not available, then a next-best match based on apredetermined structure can be used.

In one implementation, a seller can offer either or both RON and eachindividual site for different prices. In another implementation, pricingis set based on how the buyer is buying. For example, in addition tosetting a seller's “Entertainment” categorized impressions at $2 CPM,the price can be made conditional; e.g., when the buyer targets“Entertainment,” a seller's Entertainment-categorized impression is $2CPM; else it is a standard price.

When a potential impression inventory buyer is looking to do performanceor audience buying, it may want granular inventory targeting on as muchinventory as possible for maximum scale. The buyer may also want to beable to report on where the campaign served in order to pinpoint high-or low-performing pockets of inventory for manual optimization. In somecases, if a buyer learns that it is missing out on inventory because aseller's domains or categories are intentionally obscured from them,they may be willing to change their behavior to gain visibility intoparticular attributes associated with the inventory.

To address this problem, one implementation of the impression inventorytrading platform provides buyers with granular targeting and reportingfor performance or audience buying purposes and ensures sellers canobtain funds for their inventory, protect against channel conflict, andartificially differentiate from run-of-exchange buying. Via theplatform, a buyer can negotiate with a seller to be given visibilityinto all or a subset of attributes associated with impression inventory,such as: all or selected content categories, all or selected domains,full or partial URLs, age, gender, other demographics, tags, publishers,fold position, and/or floors. In exchange, a seller can obtain a benefitsuch as a minimum spend commit across the seller's inventory and/or aprice floor for the buyer's bids on particular inventory.

In one implementation, the trading platform UI displays to buyers themost important sellers in a market with a status for each seller showingwhether the buyer has access to seller domains and categories, and/or toother attributes associated with impression inventory. The UI canfurther show how each buyer ranks against other buyers in terms ofaccess to supply. In another implementation, the trading platform UIdisplays to sellers the buyers with whom the sellers have tradingrelationships. Top buyers and sellers in a market can be shown based onhow many relationships they have, and email or other notifications canbe sent to highlight new partners that are joining the market. Thisdisplay screen in the platform UI can be market-focused, so if a memberonly does business in a certain country or region, it will not seemembers that do not overlap.

In some other systems, all sellers have “undisclosed” auctionvisibility, meaning that buyers can't see the auction floor prices theseller has set and therefore can't determine if the auction is trulysecond-price. If the seller and buyer negotiate a floor price inexchange for a privilege for the buyer, the buyer will want to be ableto see that floor price exposed in the system so they know they'rebidding enough to win impressions on the deal. Accordingly, buyers wouldbenefit from transparency into floor pricing as well as auctionmechanics. Buyers need to know at what prices they can win inventory,and certain buyers use price reduction as profit margin. Buyers alsowant to know that publishers are transacting fairly, so they oftenrequest a “true” second-price auction.

In one implementation, the present trading platform provides buyers withfair, cooperative auction dynamics (e.g., if a buyer bids what itbelieves an impression is worth, the buyer can trust that the sellerwill price reduce), while allowing sellers to protect theirdifferentiation and pricing in RTB. To provide buyers with a truesecond-price auction, the platform can allow a buyer and seller tonegotiate such that the buyer is provided with visibility into theauction floors. For example, the buyer can propose to a seller thatthere should be no hard floors and no soft floors, or that the buyershould be given visibility into a hard floor and/or soft floor. Inexchange, the platform allows the buyer to offer a benefit to theseller, e.g., make a commitment to ensure the seller receives a minimumspend commit for RON (or an opportunity not to lose spend from thebuyer).

Ultimately, the disclosed systems and methods provide value for eachplayer participating in the market. Trading desks can use theirresources to negotiate favorable terms and create exclusiverelationships, while large strategic sellers can negotiate the terms oftheir auction, have deeper relationships with buyers, control how buyersare buying, negotiate auction dynamics and inventory attributevisibility, and obtain soft commits to sell inventory at higher prices.Packagers using the trading platform can gain ways to merchandise theirinventory to buyers in exchange for advantages like increased spend.

FIGS. 1-13 illustrate example functionality of the system via UI screensof the trading platform according to one implementation. The UI allowsclients to negotiate terms for buying and selling impression inventoryin, for example, an RTB setting. Once negotiation of a deal has beencompleted and is actively being filled, both buyer and seller are givenvisibility into the performance of the deals via the UI.

FIGS. 1 and 2 provide example user interfaces for viewing a list of aplatform member's partners (“Partner List”). FIG. 1 depicts a seller'sview and FIG. 2 depicts a buyer's view of the “Partner List” screen.Goal tracking is displayed for each specific partner, if a goal is set(e.g., a desired spend goal). The buyer or seller can access furtherdetails for a particular partner by clicking on the “View Partnership”button associated with the partner. As shown in FIG. 1, a seller canalso edit its standard terms for the sale of impression inventory.Further, as shown in FIG. 2, notifications of new proposals from sellers(e.g., proposed terms for the sale of impression inventory) can bedisplayed to the buyer.

FIG. 3 shows an example user interface for a seller viewing andinteracting with standard transaction terms, and FIG. 4 shows an exampleuser interface for a seller viewing and specifying custom transactionterms. The user interfaces for a buyer viewing and interacting withstandard and custom transaction terms can be substantially similar.Terms can be a central feature of marketplace relationships. Once arelationship is negotiated, an impression inventory seller proposesterms that a buyer can decide to trade on, or not. The terms pages arewhere both partners can view the current trade relationship. Using theinterface, a seller can set standard terms for all buyers across theonline advertising platform, and can also set custom terms forparticular buyers and/or groups of buyers.

The term interface screens can include information associated with theparticular partner being viewed (e.g., contact information, website,logo, etc.), and an “Activity Stream” that displays messages and alertsbetween the user and the partner being viewed. The interface can furtherdisplay a goal (e.g., spend) of the partnership terms, if any; thetargeting access made available by the seller to the buyer in thepartnership (e.g., impression inventory attributes); and the rates madeavailable by the seller to the buyer to trade on in the partnership. Theinterface can also display various messages and alerts about the termsbeing viewed in context to how that terms page was reached (e.g.,proposed terms, accepted terms, rejected terms, etc.).

FIGS. 5 and 6 depict example user interfaces for editing deal terms byan impression inventory seller and buyer, respectively. Terms editing ishow deals are set into action across the online advertising platform,such that some or all partners can trade according to set terms. The“Term Editing” screens can include information associated with thepartner being viewed (e.g., contact information, website, logo, etc.)and an Activity Stream that displays messages and alerts between theuser and the partner being viewed. An editing view of the terms page toallow for editing of individual can be included. In certainimplementations, only a seller can modify terms using the editing view,whereas in other implementations, both parties can propose terms to theother party and/or modify terms of the other party's proposal to form acounterproposal using the editing interface. Sellers and/or buyers canedit the targeting access fields (shown as binary options) and/or therate terms (shown as permitting complex options such as include/exclude,multi-select fields, drop-down selection boxes, and text-field options).A seller and/or buyer can also optionally add a goal to the partnership(e.g., spend over a period of time), and can optionally include amessage to the other party about particular terms or proposed termchanges.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example user interface for viewing analytics by abuyer or seller platform member. The “Analytics” screen shows detailabout the partnership between the buyer and seller and allows bothparties to gauge how well the partnership is doing and where there canbe improvements, deals, or changes made. The “Analytics” screen caninclude information associated with the partner being viewed (e.g.,contact information, website, logo, etc.) and an Activity Stream thatdisplays messages and alerts between the user and the partner beingviewed. The interface can display the goal, if specified, that shows howthe partner is performing in terms of, for example, a set spend goalduring a particular time period. As shown, a graph can track spendingtrends such as how much the buyer has spent on the seller's inventoryduring the displayed time period. The interface can also display topbrands by spend (e.g., the buyer's top five spend of brands (ad brands)on the seller's inventory during the displayed time period), toppublishers by spend (e.g., the buyer's top five spend on the seller'spublishers (websites) during the displayed time period), and otherrankings.

FIGS. 8 and 9 provide example user interfaces for a buyer and seller,respectively, to view pending terms. The “Pending Terms” screens arewhere negotiation initiated through the trading platform occurs, andbuyers and/or sellers can accept or deny proposals made by the otherparty via these interfaces. The “Pending Terms” screens can includeinformation associated with the partner being viewed (e.g., contactinformation, website, logo, etc.) and an Activity Stream that displaysmessages and alerts between the user and the partner being viewed. The“Pending Terms” screens can also display the proposed goal of thepartnership terms, if any; proposed targeting access made available bythe seller to the buyer in the partnership; and proposed rates madeavailable by the seller to the buyer to trade on in the partnership.Changes between standard, originally proposed, and/or previouslyproposed terms can be highlighted or otherwise identified. In someimplementations, the buyer and/or seller can optionally further modifythe proposed terms, and the other party can accept or deny the terms andinclude a message to the proposing party.

Partner with Buyers

As discussed above, the present systems and methods can be used bybuyers and sellers to foster and manage relationships with each other.In particular, sellers can: (1) use the present system to communicatewith buyers and negotiate a trade directly in a console using anActivity Stream; (2) leverage targeting access for higher impressionprices and/or more overall spend; (3) more easily create a trade with aspecific buyer, setting the yield management and visibility settingsdiscussed with the buyer in one place; (4) achieve higher fill rates andrevenue with trade terms that the buyer can see and has agreed to; and(5) track revenue from a specific buyer to gain insight into thepartnership and trends.

Partner Center Screen—Seller View

Providing further detail to the example UI screen in FIG. 1, FIG. 10illustrates another implementation of a “Partner Center” screen for aseller. On the “Partner Center” screen, a seller user can view preferredpartners, search all buyers, manage a profile, manage default buyersettings, and review impression and click statistics for each buyer. Ifthe seller is in a network that also represents demand partners, apartner mode dropdown box will be displayed, and the seller can select“Demand Partner Mode” from the dropdown in order to view the “PartnerCenter” screen as a demand partner looking for supply partners.

The “My Profile” button can be clicked to edit the information thatdemand partners will see on a “Partner Details” page associated with theseller. The profile can provide information about the seller's company,which helps demand partners understand how the seller may be useful as apartner. The “My Profile” dialog also displays an overview of the auditquality of the user's inventory. The seller can see how much of itsinventory has been self-audited (seller-reviewed) and how much has beenaudited by the online advertising platform provider (platform-reviewed).

A seller can also establish default buyer eligibility, allowed dealtypes, and targeting access settings for all demand partners within the“Default Settings” dialog. In some implementations, the seller canoverride the foregoing settings for individual demand partners.

The “Default Buyer Eligibility” setting in the “Default Settings” dialogallows the seller to ban a particular member. If “eligible,” the sellercan sell inventory to this partner buyer, because the ads the partnerwould like to serve have proven trustworthy (i.e., the partner's adsmeet the seller's ad quality requirements). If the seller specifies thepartner as “eligible,” the seller can define the payment methods that itwill accept and the targeting information it will provide. If thepartner is specified as “blocked”, the seller declines to sell anyinventory to this member for any number of reasons. For example, theseller may have a direct relationship with a buyer and wishes to avoidallowing them access to the seller's inventory at a potentially lowerprice via real-time bidding.

The “Default Allowed Deal Types” setting in the “Default Settings”dialog indicates the type(s) of payment the seller accepts from eligiblepartners. In one implementation, “CPM” is selected by default for alleligible buyers. The seller can also opt into allowing members to payfor inventory on a CPC and/or CPA basis. If the seller allows CPC and/orCPA payment, the seller can also set up publishers to accept CPC and CPAdeal types.

The “Default Targeting Access” setting in the “Default Settings” dialogindicates the visible attributes each member receives by default whentargeting inventory. The more information a seller gives to buyers, themore easily they can target the seller's inventory. The seller canprovide default access to none, some, or all of the followingattributes:

-   -   URLs (Full or Domain)—Expose domains to allow members using        white lists or Research Available Inventory to more easily        target the seller's inventory.    -   Category (Universal)—Expose information provided by the seller        (when creating a placement) and allow members to target via        universal content categories.    -   Category (Custom)—Expose custom content categories to grant        buyers the ability to target customized slices of inventory that        the seller has collected into a category.    -   Age—Expose information provided by the seller (e.g., using an        age macro when exporting a placement) and allow members to        target by age or age range.    -   Gender—Expose information provided by the seller (e.g., using a        gender macro when exporting a placement) and allow members to        target via gender.    -   Placements—Expose the placement name to allow buyers to more        easily target a specific advertisement placement.    -   Publishers—Expose a publisher's name and ID to allow buyers to        more easily target a specific publisher.

The “All Buyers” tab in FIG. 10 lists all buyers (both platform membersand external bidders). Each buyer's member name and ID can be displayedalong with platform-wide and buyer transaction statistics (e.g.,impressions, unique impressions, media costs, clicks, conversions,click-through rate (CTR), revenue, and profit). The “Platform-wide”columns display statistics on all of the buyer's transactions across theplatform over a period of time (e.g., the past 30 days). The“Transactions with Buyer” columns display statistics on a seller'stransactions with the buyer over a period of time (e.g., the past 30days).

Platform-wide statistics can include “Imps” (the number of impressionsthat the buyer has purchased across the entire platform) and “UniqueImps” (the number of impressions that can be attributed to unique userspurchased across the entire platform). The buyer transactions statisticscan include “Imps” (the number of impressions that the buyer haspurchased from the seller), “Media Costs” (the cost of all of theimpressions the buyer has purchased from the seller), “Clicks” (thenumber of clicks that were generated from inventory that was purchasedfrom the seller), “Convs” (the number of conversions that wereattributed to inventory that was purchased from the seller), “CTR” (thebuyer's click-through rate on the seller's inventory), “Revenue” (theamount of revenue that the seller earned from the buyer), and “Profit”(the amount of profit that the seller earned from the buyer).

The seller can use the interface to search for buyers to locate aspecific type of buyer, and can then review the statistics associatedwith the buyer to determine if the seller would like to partner with theparticular buyer. The seller can use filters to search the “All Buyers”list for a buyer that meets the seller's partnership needs. The list ofbuyers can be filtered by, for example, name/id (a specific buyer's nameor member ID), primary country (the country in which the buyer has themost spend), iASH compliance (buyers who are iASH compliant), buyereligibility (eligibility settings defined for buyers by the seller),allowed deal types (deal types the seller has allowed for buyers),targeting access (targeting access the seller has exposed to buyers),and creative audit status (the creative audit status allowed frombuyers).

In one implementation, a seller can set preferred buyers via the UI. Forexample, the seller can mark a number (e.g., ten) of buyers with whomthe seller has a significant partnership by clicking on the prefer icon(star) next to their names. These partners are then displayed within the“Preferred Partners” tab. The seller can add partners that the sellerfrequently works with, wants to monitor regularly, or has a personalrelationship with in order to keep them easily visible. The member nameand ID of preferred buyers can be displayed along with each buyer'splatform-wide statistics and statistics regarding the seller'stransactions with the buyer.

A seller can also click on a buyer's name (whether in the “PreferredPartners” tab or the “All Buyers” tab) to view the “Partner Details”screen in which the seller can review and manage a relationship with aspecific buyer. The seller can view spending trends, privileges allowedfor the buyer, and active, upcoming and pending deals. The “PartnerDetails” section is where the seller can create a new deal, export adeal, cancel a deal, and/or duplicate a deal.

Customizing the Seller Profile

On the “Partner Center” screen, a seller can edit the profileinformation that will be displayed to demand partners on the “PartnerDetails” page. Basic information about the seller can include ID (theunique identification number for the member), name (the member's name),partner type (the type of partner the member is within the platform),buyer status (a member that buys inventory through the platform), andseller status (a member that sells inventory through the platform).

The profile can contain other information, such as contact name, contacttitle, phone, email, company website, address, country, and companyinformation. The seller can also elect to have the same informationshown when another seller is viewing the seller's buyer profile, if theseller has such a profile. The profile can also contain an “InventoryTrust” chart, where a user can view an overview of the audit quality ofthe profile owner's inventory. A user can see the number of impressionsas well as the percentage of the inventory that has been self-audited(seller-reviewed) or audited by the online advertising platform(platform-reviewed). The statistics for the inventory can includeaudited and unaudited inventory.

Editing Specific Buyer Settings

A seller can determine the buyer eligibility, allowed deal types, andtargeting access settings for one or more specific demand partners,similarly to setting default buyer settings as described above. A sellercan select the eligibility to apply to the partners, thereby indicatingwhether the seller's inventory is available (eligible) to a buyer, ornot (blocked). A seller can choose the “Default” setting if it wants theselected demand partners to continue to follow the default value. Aseller can also change the allowed deal types, i.e., the payment typesthe seller is willing to accept from the partners. For example, theseller can select CPC, CPA, and/or CPM. A seller can also change thetargeting attribute access by selecting the information that should beexposed to the specific buyer partner when it is targeting the seller'sinventory. Specific partners can be allowed access to, for example,domain URL, category, age, gender, placement, publisher targetinginformation, and/or other attributes as described herein. The moreinformation given to demand partners, the more easily they can targetinventory.

Partnership Details Screen—Seller View

Referring now to FIG. 11, on the “Partnership Details” screen a sellerpartner can review and manage a relationship with a specific buyer bytracking overall revenue trends, viewing the buyer's top brands on thepartner's inventory, viewing the top publishers for the buyer, viewingthe privileges the partner has granted for the buyer, viewing active andupcoming deals, and creating new deals. The seller can view informationthe buyer has provided, including the main contact's name, phone number,and email address, and a description of the buyer's business. Thepartner can contact the buyer directly. If the buyer has not entered itscontact's name, phone number, email address, or a description of itsbusiness, then this information will not be available.

The seller partner can view statistics in the “Dashboard” tab to see howthe buyer is performing on the seller's inventory. These statistics canbe updated periodically (e.g., every 24 hours). The graph and tables canupdate at separate times; therefore text at the top of each section cannote when the last update occurred. A “Revenue” graph can displayrevenue from all transactions between the seller and the buyer withinthe last, e.g., 90 days. The seller can use this graph to monitor thebuyer's activity on the seller's inventory. If the buyer is targeting anactive deal, this graph can help give insight into the deal'seffectiveness. There can be a data point for every day, and the sellercan hover over a data point to see the date it represents, along withthe amount of revenue and impressions for that day.

Further, a table can list the buyer's top brands that have purchased theseller partner's inventory, listed in order from most to least revenue.This information indicates which of the buyer's brands are performingbest on the inventory. Another table can list the seller partner's toppublishers that the buyer has purchased inventory from, listed in orderfrom most to least revenue. This information indicates which publishersare performing best with the buyer.

Messages between the seller partner and the buyer can be displayed inthe “Activity Stream,” along with the number of days since the messagewas posted. Sellers can use the Activity Stream to introduce themselvesto a new buyer, discuss terms for a new deal with the buyer, check inwith the buyer to see how a deal is working for them, or discuss why adeal isn't working for the user. System messages and other statusmessages (e.g., proposal accepted, proposal declined) can also displayin the Activity Stream. In the Activity Stream, a seller partner cansend a buyer a message by typing into the field at the top of thesection, and then clicking “Post”; view last update information (text atthe top of the section will note when the Activity Stream was lastupdated); and hide the Activity Stream.

Seller partners can view and manage the buyer's targeting accessprivileges within the “Partner Privileges” tab, shown in FIG. 12. Insome implementations, the buyer can also view the “Partner Privileges”tab in a buyer view where the buyer can see what impression inventoryattributes the seller has exposed to and hidden from the buyer, such asURLs (full or domain), customer or universal categories, age, gender,placements, and publishers. The seller can also update the buyer'stargeting access settings through the “Partner Privileges” tab.

A seller partner can view deals with a buyer (historical and currentdeals) in the “Granular Deals” tab, shown in FIG. 13. Each deal can bedisplayed with additional details such as name (a name entered for thedeal), ID (the deal identifier), owner (the first and last name of theseller user that created the deal), description (a description for thedeal), effective dates (the start and end dates for the deal), inventory(the inventory that the deal will apply to, where the seller can select“Run of Seller” for the deal to apply to the seller's entire inventory,“Category” for the deal to apply to selected universal and/or customcategories, or “Publisher” for the deal to apply to selectedpublishers), segment (the segment that the deal will apply to), size(the impression size that the deal will apply to), brand (the brand thatthe deal will apply to), type (the auction type), and value (the floorprice, if any, associated with the deal). Deals that have been canceledor have expired are displayed within the “Inactive” section.

A seller partner can negotiate a deal that meets the seller's and thebuyer's needs using the Activity Stream, and then clicking “Create Deal”in the Granular Deals tab to create the deal. Active and upcoming dealscan be edited at any time. The seller can click anywhere in the row ofthe deal to update, and the deal's fields will become editable. Sellerscan also cancel and export deals.

Partner with Sellers

As a buyer, the present system can be used to communicate with sellersand negotiate a trade directly using the Activity Stream; leverage moreoverall spend for targeting access and/or lower impression prices; andtrack spend on a specific seller's inventory to gain insight into thepartnership and trends.

Partner Center Screen—Buyer View

The “Partner Center” screen for buyers can be substantially similar tothe “Partner Center” screen for sellers, as depicted in FIG. 10, withtextual elements and interface controls referring to “sellers” insteadof “buyers.” On the “Partner Center” screen, a buyer can view preferredpartners, search all sellers, and review impression and click statisticsfor each seller. A buyer can edit profile information that supplypartners will see on the buyer's “Partner Details” page. The buyerpartner profile provides information about the buyer's company, whichhelps supply partners understand how the buyer can be useful as apartner.

Buyers can establish default seller eligibility and inventory trustsettings for all supply partners within the “Default Settings” dialog.Similar to seller default settings as described above, it is possible tooverride the default settings for individual supply partners.

The “Default Seller Eligibility” setting indicates whether a seller'sinventory is available (eligible) or unavailable (blocked). If eligible,the buyer can buy inventory from this seller partner, because at least aportion of the inventory the seller makes available has proventrustworthy (e.g., the inventory portion meets required category andsensitivity attributes). If blocked, the buyer will not buy anyinventory from this seller for any number of reasons. For example, theseller may have a history of providing misleading domain informationwhen making inventory available for bids, and the buyer wishes to avoidserving on any domains offered by this seller.

If the seller eligibility is set to “eligible,” this indicates that thebuyer considers at least some of the inventory from that partner to beacceptable for an impression, though this need not be an all-or-nonedecision. The buyer can define which portion of the seller's inventoryis trusted. In one implementation, there are three trust levels (listedfrom least trusted to most trusted). The first level,“platform-reviewed,” indicates that the buyer trusts only the inventorythat has been audited by the online advertising platform. Thedomain-level platform review can include review of categories, sensitiveattributes, and intended audience. This is the lowest level of trust andoffers the fewest options (domains) in which to serve impressions, butprovides the highest level of assurance that ads will not be served onquestionable sites. The second level, “seller-reviewed,” indicates that,in addition to all platform-reviewed inventory (above), the buyer alsotrusts inventory audited by the seller. This expands the number ofdomains on which an ad can serve, but requires confidence in the reviewprocess and standards of the seller. The third level, “all,” indicatesthat the buyer is comfortable serving ads on any domain sent to thebuyer by this supply partner. This allows access to all domains, butexpands the possibility that an ad will be served on a questionable orinappropriate site.

The “All Sellers” tab on the buyer's “Partner Center” screen can displayall sellers, both members and external suppliers. The member name and IDof each seller is displayed along with statistics associated therewith.The “Platform-wide” columns display statistics on all of the seller'stransactions across the platform, whereas the “Transactions with Seller”columns display statistics on transactions with the particular seller.

Platform-wide statistics can include “Imps” (the number of impressionsthe seller has sold across the entire platform) and “Unique Imps” (thenumber of impressions shown to uniquely identifiable users the sellerhas sold across the entire platform). The seller transactions statisticscan include “Imps” (the number of impressions that the buyer haspurchased from the seller), “Media Costs” (the cost of all of theimpressions the buyer has purchased from the seller), “Clicks” (thenumber of clicks that were generated from inventory that was purchasedfrom the seller), “Convs” (the number of conversions that wereattributed to inventory that was purchased from the seller), “CTR” (thebuyer's click-through rate on the seller's inventory), “Revenue” (theamount of revenue that the seller earned from the buyer), and “Profit”(the amount of profit that the seller earned from the buyer).

Buyers can search for sellers to find a specific type of seller and thenreview the statistics to determine if they would like to partner withthe seller. A buyer can use filters to search the “All Sellers” list fora seller that meets the buyer's partnership needs. The list of sellerscan be filtered by, for example, name/id (a specific seller's name ormember ID), primary market (the country in which the seller has themajority of its inventory), iASH compliance (sellers who are iASHcompliant), seller eligibility (eligibility settings defined for sellersby the buyer), and inventory trust levels (inventory trust levels thebuyer has defined for sellers.

A buyer can mark sellers with whom the buyer has a significantpartnership by clicking on the prefer icon (star) next to the seller'sname. These seller partners will then be display within the “PreferredPartners” tab. The buyer can add sellers that the buyer frequently workswith, wants to monitor regularly, or has a personal relationship with inorder to keep them easily visible. The member name and ID of each sellercan be displayed along with the sellers' platform-wide statistics andstatistics regarding transactions with the sellers.

The buyer can click on a seller partner's name to view the “PartnerDetails” screen where the buyer can review and manage a relationshipwith a specific seller. The buyer can view spending trends and active,upcoming, and pending deals. The “Partner Details” screen is where thebuyer can accept or decline a new deal, export a deal, and/or cancel adeal.

On the “Partner Center” screen, the buyer can edit the profileinformation that will be displayed to supply partners on the “PartnerDetails” page, in a similar manner as for sellers and seller profiles,described above.

The buyer can specify the seller eligibility and inventory trust levelsettings for one or more specific supply partners (i.e., overriding thedefault settings). As described above, the eligibility setting indicateswhether a seller's inventory is available (eligible) or not (blocked).The buyer can also hover over the seller's name for an overview of theaudit quality of the seller's inventory. The interface shows the numberof impressions as well as the percentage of the seller's inventory thathas been audited by the seller (seller-reviewed) or audited by theonline advertising platform (platform-reviewed). The statisticsavailable to the buyer can include both audited and unaudited inventory.The buyer can select the inventory trust level to apply to the partners,thereby indicating whether the buyer trusts inventory reviewed only bythe platform, by the platform and the seller, or all inventory. Thebuyer can also select the default setting to have the selected supplypartners to continue to follow the default value.

Partnership Details Screen—Buyer View

Similarly to the seller “Partnership Details” screen shown in FIG. 11, abuyer can review and manage a relationship with a specific seller via abuyer “Partnership Details” screen. The buyer can track overall spendtrends, view top brands on a seller's inventory, view a seller's toppublishers from whom the buyer partner has purchased inventory, viewactive and upcoming deals, and communicate with a seller to negotiate adeal. The buyer can also view information the seller has provided,including the main contact's name, phone number, and email address, anda description of the seller's business. The buyer can contact the sellerdirectly by sending a message within the Activity Stream.

The buyer partner can view statistics in the “Dashboard” tab to see howthe buyer's campaigns are performing on the seller's inventory. Thesestatistics can be updated periodically (e.g., every 24 hours). Thegraphs and tables available to the buyer can update at separate times;therefore, text at the top of each section can note when the last updateoccurred. If the buyer has not purchased any inventory from theparticular seller, there will be no information to display in graphs andtables.

A “spend” graph can display spend from all transactions between thebuyer partner and the seller within, e.g., the last 90 days. The buyercan use this graph to monitor activity on the seller's inventory. If thepartner is targeting an active deal, this graph can help give the buyerinsight into the deal's effectiveness. The buyer can hover over a datapoint for a particular day to see the date it represents, along with thespend amount for that day.

In one implementation, a table lists the top brands that have purchasedinventory from the seller, listed in order from most to least spend.This information tells the buyer which of its brands are performing beston the seller's inventory. Another table can list the seller's toppublishers from whom the buyer has purchased inventory, listed in orderfrom most to least spend. This information informs the buyer on which ofthe seller's publishers it is performing best.

Messages between the buyer partner and the seller are displayed in theActivity Stream, along with the number of days since the message wasposted. The buyer can use the Activity Stream to introduce itself to anew seller, discuss terms for a new deal with the seller, check in withthe seller to see how a deal is working for them, or discuss why a dealisn't working for the partner. The buyer can propose changes to a dealby sending the seller a message within the Activity Stream.

The buyer partner can view the targeting access privileges the sellerhas set for it within the “Partner Privileges” tab. The partner cancontact the seller using the Activity Stream to request a change to itstargeting access. Access privileges can be those as described elsewhereherein.

The buyer partner can view all of its deals with the seller, historicaland current, in the “Granular Deals” tab. Each deal can be displayedwith additional details such as those described above with respect toviewing deals. Currently active and upcoming deals can be displayedwithin the “Active” section. Deals that have been canceled or haveexpired can be displayed within the “Inactive” section.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example method for facilitating negotiationbetween a seller and a buyer on an impression inventory tradingplatform, and FIG. 15 depicts an example system for implementing thetechniques described herein. In STEP 1402, a specification of impressioninventory for sale by an impression inventory seller is received at thetrading platform 1500. The specification can include, for example,attributes associated with the inventory such as a uniform resourcelocator (or portion thereof), a domain, an age, a gender, a contentcategory, an auction price floor, a geography, a tag, a publisher, or afold position; rates associated with particular subsets of theinventory; and so on. Each attribute is specified as either hidden orvisible to potential impression inventory buyers (e.g., all buyers,subset(s) of buyers, or individual buyers) (STEP 1404). The seller canspecify each attribute status via the user interface of the tradingplatform 1500 or other API, which can be accessed using the seller userdevice 1550 and browser software 1555.

In STEP 1406, the impression inventory specification and visibleattributes associated therewith, if any, are provided to one or morepotential impression inventory buyers via the user interface of thetrading platform 1500, and the platform 1500 facilitates negotiation,via its user interface, between the seller and one or more of thepotential impression inventory buyers for purchase of the impressioninventory (STEP 1408). The buyer and seller can access the userinterface of the platform 1500 via communications network 1570 usingtheir respective user devices 1515 and 1550 and browser software 1515and 1555. The negotiation facilitation can include, for example,receiving a proposal at the trading platform from a potential impressioninventory buyer for the seller to expose one or more hidden attributesassociated with the impression inventory, and providing the proposal tothe seller via the platform user interface. The proposal can include anoffer to provide a benefit to the seller (e.g., a price floor forcertain impression inventory or a minimum spend commitment) in exchangefor the seller exposing the hidden attributes.

The negotiation facilitation can also include receiving from the sellerproposed terms for the sale of the impression inventory and providing,via the platform user interface, the proposed terms to a potentialimpression inventory buyer. In response, the buyer can accept or rejectthe proposed terms, and the acceptance or rejection are provided to theseller via the user interface. The proposed terms can include, forexample, a proposed rate for a sale of at least a subset of theimpression inventory, or proposed targeting access to the impressioninventory for the buyer.

The negotiation facilitation can also include receiving from a potentialimpression inventory buyer proposed terms for the purchase of theimpression inventory, and providing the proposed terms to the seller viathe platform user interface. The seller can accept or reject theproposed terms, and the acceptance or rejection are provided to thepotential buyer via the user interface. The seller can makemodifications to the proposed terms from the seller and provide, via theuser interface, the modifications to the potential buyer. The processcan also be performed with roles reversed; e.g., the buyer can make acounterproposal to a seller's proposed terms.

Application Programming Interface

The present trading platform can also include application programminginterfaces (APIs) that provide for the implementation of the featuresdescribed herein. In one implementation, an Activity Stream API servicedrives inter-personal communication for the user. This service can bedisplayed in the trading platform UI as a chat client for deliveringmessages from one member to another, or as a mechanism for the system tobroadcast messages about the status of a deal.

In another implementation, a Partner Relationship API servicefacilitates the definition of who is partnered with whom, and allows forthe management of terms of partners' in-flight and in-negotiation dealsand corresponding goals for spend/delivery. The Partner Relationship APIcan provide for the ability to manipulate deal terms such as specialpricing on inventory, special visibility into inventory at auction-time,and spending goals. In some implementations, the API allows a seller to:set a default policy which applies to all partners in absence of anegotiated deal to guarantee a set of base terms for how inventory issold; send a set of proposed terms to a specific buyer for review andresponse to establish a preferential relationship; review a report of abuyer's spend on the seller's network; propose multiple future deals tobuyers that do not have overlapping flight dates; and limit the numberof active deals. The API can allow a buyer to review proposed policiesand accept or deny them with feedback, and can allow both sellers andbuyers to: limit the number of active deals; limit views torelationships where the user is either seller or buyer; and negotiatethe level of visibility into inventory at auction time and the rates atwhich inventory is sold/bought, and define the amount of spend that istransacted as part of a relationship.

Referring to FIG. 15, an impression inventory buyer and an impressioninventory seller can negotiate via the trading platform 1500 usingrespective user devices 1510 and 1550. Implementations of the impressioninventory trading platform 1500 and user devices 1510 and 1550 canutilize appropriate hardware or software and can execute, for example,on a system capable of running an operating system such as the MicrosoftWindows® operating systems, the Apple OS X® operating systems, the AppleiOS® platform, the Google Android™ platform, the Linux® operating systemand other variants of UNIX® operating systems, and the like.

The functionality described herein can be implemented in software and/orhardware on various devices. The user devices 1510 and 1550 can include,but are not limited to, a smart phone, smart watch, smart glasses,tablet computer, portable computer, television, gaming device, musicplayer, mobile telephone, laptop, palmtop, smart or dumb terminal,network computer, personal digital assistant, wireless device,information appliance, workstation, minicomputer, mainframe computer, orother computing device, that is operated as a general purpose computeror a special purpose hardware device that can execute the functionalitydescribed herein. The software, for example, can be implemented on ageneral purpose computing device in the form of a computer including aprocessing unit, a system memory, and a system bus that couples varioussystem components including the system memory to the processing unit.

Additionally or alternatively, some or all of the functionality, such asthe trading platform 1500, can be performed remotely, in the cloud, orvia software-as-a-service. The remote functionality can execute onserver class computers that have sufficient memory, data storage, andprocessing power and that run a server class operating system (e.g.,Oracle® Solaris®, GNU/Linux®, and the Microsoft® Windows® family ofoperating systems).

The system can include a plurality of software processing modules storedin a memory and executed on a processor. By way of illustration, theprogram modules can be in the form of one or more suitable programminglanguages, which are converted to machine language or object code toallow the processor or processors to execute the instructions. Thesoftware can be in the form of a standalone application, implemented ina suitable programming language or framework.

Method steps of the techniques described herein can be performed by oneor more programmable processors executing one or more computer programsto perform functions by operating on input data and generating output.Method steps can also be performed by, and apparatus can be implementedas, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmablegate array) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit).Modules can refer to portions of the computer program and/or theprocessor/special circuitry that implements that functionality.

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors.Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from aread-only memory or a random access memory or both. The essentialelements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions andone or more memory devices for storing instructions and data.Information carriers suitable for embodying computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory,including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM,EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal harddisks or removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks. One or more memories can store media assets (e.g., audio, video,graphics, interface elements, and/or other media files), configurationfiles, and/or instructions that, when executed by a processor, form themodules, engines, and other components described herein and perform thefunctionality associated with the components. The processor and thememory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in special purpose logiccircuitry.

In various implementations, a particular user device 1510 and/or 1550includes a web browser 1515 and 1555, respectively, native application,or both, that facilitates execution of the functionality, such as theuser interface, described herein. A web browser 1515, 1555 allows thedevice to request a web page or other program, applet, document, orresource (e.g., from the trading platform, a web server, etc.) with anHTTP request. One example of a web page is a data file that includescomputer executable or interpretable information, graphics, sound, text,and/or video, that can be displayed, executed, played, processed,streamed, and/or stored and that can contain links, or pointers, toother web pages. In one implementation, a user of the device 1510, 1550manually requests a resource from a server. Alternatively, the deviceautomatically makes requests with a browser application 1515, 1555.Examples of commercially available web browser software includeMicrosoft® Internet Explorer®, Mozilla® Firefox®, and Apple® Safari®.

In some implementations, the trading platform 1500 is accessed usingclient software on a client device 1510, 1550. The client softwareprovides functionality to the device that provides for theimplementation and execution of the features described herein. Theclient software can be implemented in various forms, for example, it canbe in the form of a browser 1515, 1555, native application, web page,widget, and/or Java, JavaScript, .Net, Silverlight, Flash, and/or otherapplet or plug-in that is downloaded to the device and runs inconjunction with a web browser. The client software and the web browser1515, 1555 can be part of a single client-server interface; for example,the client software can be implemented as a plug-in to the web browser1515, 1555 or to another framework or operating system. Other suitableclient software architecture, including but not limited to widgetframeworks and applet technology can also be employed with the clientsoftware.

A communications network 1570 can connect user devices 1515 and 1555with the trading platform 1500, with one or more remote servers ordevices, and/or with each other. The communication can take place overmedia such as standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (e.g., T1, T3,56 kb, X.25), broadband connections (ISDN, Frame Relay, ATM), wirelesslinks (802.11 (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, GSM, CDMA, etc.), for example. Othercommunication media are possible. The network 1570 can carry TCP/IPprotocol communications, and HTTP/HTTPS requests made by a web browser1515, 1555, and the connection between the user devices 1515 and 1555and trading platform 1500 can be communicated over such TCP/IP networks.Other communication protocols are possible.

The system can also be practiced in distributed computing environmentswhere tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linkedthrough a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules can be located in both local and remotecomputer storage media including memory storage devices. Other types ofsystem hardware and software than that described herein can also beused, depending on the capacity of the device and the amount of requireddata processing capability. The system can also be implemented on one ormore virtual machines executing virtualized operating systems such asthose mentioned above, and that operate on one or more computers havinghardware such as that described herein.

It should also be noted that implementations of the systems and methodscan be provided as one or more computer-readable programs embodied on orin one or more articles of manufacture. The program instructions can beencoded on an artificially-generated propagated signal, e.g., amachine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, thatis generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus for execution by a data processing apparatus. A computerstorage medium can be, or be included in, a computer-readable storagedevice, a computer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial accessmemory array or device, or a combination of one or more of them.Moreover, while a computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, acomputer storage medium can be a source or destination of computerprogram instructions encoded in an artificially-generated propagatedsignal. The computer storage medium can also be, or be included in, oneor more separate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs,disks, or other storage devices).

The terms and expressions employed herein are used as terms andexpressions of description and not of limitation, and there is nointention, in the use of such terms and expressions, of excluding anyequivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof. Inaddition, having described certain implementations in the presentdisclosure, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artthat other implementations incorporating the concepts disclosed hereincan be used without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. The features and functions of the various implementations canbe arranged in various combinations and permutations, and all areconsidered to be within the scope of the disclosed invention.Accordingly, the described implementations are to be considered in allrespects as illustrative and not restrictive. The configurations,materials, and dimensions described herein are also intended asillustrative and in no way limiting. Similarly, although physicalexplanations have been provided for explanatory purposes, there is nointent to be bound by any particular theory or mechanism, or to limitthe claims in accordance therewith.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a seller, a specification of impression inventory for sale comprising a plurality of terms, the impression inventory having associated therewith a plurality of targeting attributes, the attributes comprising one or more web domains on which the impression inventory exists; providing to the seller a first user interface screen comprising a listing of the plurality of targeting attributes and a respective user interface control for each targeting attribute visually indicating whether the targeting attribute is hidden or visible to a potential impression inventory buyer; providing to one or more potential impression inventory buyers a second user interface screen comprising a visual depiction of the impression inventory specification and visible targeting attributes associated therewith; receiving from a first one of the potential impression inventory buyers a proposed modification to one or more of the terms of the impression inventory specification, the terms comprising a minimum price floor for real-time bidding auctions to serve impressions on the impression inventory; providing to the seller a third user interface screen comprising a visual depiction of the impression inventory specification with a visual identification of the proposed modification to one or more of the terms; receiving in response to the proposed modification via a first one of the user interface controls of the first user interface screen a change in status of a first one of the targeting attributes from hidden to visible, the first targeting attribute comprising the one or more web domains; providing an application programming interface (API) including an activity stream API configured to receive messages for broadcast to the seller and the potential impression inventory buyers within one or more of the user interface screens; and conducting a real-time bidding auction to serve an impression on impression inventory at one of the web domains, the conducting comprising setting a price floor based on the minimum price floor for bids received from the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a proposal from the first potential impression inventory buyer for the seller to expose one or more hidden attributes associated with the impression inventory to the first potential impression inventory buyer; and providing the proposal to the seller.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the proposal comprises an offer to provide a benefit to the seller in exchange for the seller exposing the one or more hidden attributes.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein a particular benefit to the seller comprises a price floor for certain impression inventory or a minimum spend commitment.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a particular attribute comprises a full uniform resource locator, a partial uniform resource locator, a domain, an age, a gender, a content category, an auction price floor, a geography, a tag, a publisher, or a fold position.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving from the seller proposed terms for the sale of the impression inventory; providing, via a user interface, the proposed terms to the first potential impression inventory buyer; receiving from the first potential impression inventory buyer an acceptance or rejection of the proposed terms; and providing, via the user interface, the acceptance or rejection to the seller.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the proposed terms comprise a proposed rate for a sale of at least a subset of the impression inventory.
 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the proposed terms comprise proposed targeting access to the impression inventory for the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving from the first potential impression inventory buyer proposed terms for the purchase of the impression inventory; providing, via a user interface, the proposed terms to the seller; receiving from the seller an acceptance or rejection of the proposed terms; and providing, via the user interface, the acceptance or rejection to the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the facilitating negotiation further comprises: receiving modifications to the proposed terms from the seller; and providing, via the user interface, the modifications to the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 11. A system comprising: one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising: receiving, from a seller, a specification of impression inventory for sale comprising a plurality of terms, the impression inventory having associated therewith a plurality of targeting attributes, the attributes comprising one or more web domains on which the impression inventory exists; providing to the seller a first user interface screen comprising a listing of the plurality of targeting attributes and a respective user interface control for each targeting attribute visually indicating whether the targeting attribute is hidden or visible to a potential impression inventory buyer; providing to one or more potential impression inventory buyers a second user interface screen comprising a visual depiction of the impression inventory specification and visible targeting attributes associated therewith; receiving from a first one of the potential impression inventory buyers a proposed modification to one or more of the terms of the impression inventory specification, the terms comprising a minimum price floor for real-time bidding auctions to serve impressions on the impression inventory; providing to the seller a third user interface screen comprising a visual depiction of the impression inventory specification with a visual identification of the proposed modification to one or more of the terms; receiving in response to the proposed modification via a first one of the user interface controls of the first user interface screen a change in status of a first one of the targeting attributes from hidden to visible, the first targeting attribute comprising the one or more web domains; providing an application programming interface (API) including an activity stream API configured to receive messages for broadcast to the seller and the potential impression inventory buyers within one or more of the user interface screens; and conducting a real-time bidding auction to serve an impression on impression inventory at one of the web domains, the conducting comprising setting a price floor based on the minimum price floor for bids received from the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a proposal from the first potential impression inventory buyer for the seller to expose one or more hidden attributes associated with the impression inventory to the first potential impression inventory buyer; and providing the proposal to the seller.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the proposal comprises an offer to provide a benefit to the seller in exchange for the seller exposing the one or more hidden attributes.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein a particular benefit to the seller comprises a price floor for certain impression inventory or a minimum spend commitment.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein a particular attribute comprises a full uniform resource locator, a partial uniform resource locator, a domain, an age, a gender, a content category, an auction price floor, a geography, a tag, a publisher, or a fold position.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving from the seller proposed terms for the sale of the impression inventory; providing, via a user interface, the proposed terms to the first potential impression inventory buyer; receiving from the first potential impression inventory buyer an acceptance or rejection of the proposed terms; and providing, via the user interface, the acceptance or rejection to the seller.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the proposed terms comprise a proposed rate for a sale of at least a subset of the impression inventory.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the proposed terms comprise proposed targeting access to the impression inventory for the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving from the first potential impression inventory buyer proposed terms for the purchase of the impression inventory; providing, via a user interface, the proposed terms to the seller; receiving from the seller an acceptance or rejection of the proposed terms; and providing, via the user interface, the acceptance or rejection to the first potential impression inventory buyer.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the facilitating negotiation further comprises: receiving modifications to the proposed terms from the seller; and providing, via the user interface, the modifications to the first potential impression inventory buyer. 